William t



' No. 621,117. Patented Mar. 14, I899.

BAIL.

(Application filed Nov. '7, 1895.)

(No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT Grrrcn.

VV'ILLIAM T. MANNING, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

RAIVL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,117, dated March 14, 1899.

Application filed November 7, 1898. Serial No. 695 ,'710. (No model.)

To .ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. MANNING,

of Baltimore, Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rails, of which improvement the following is a specification.

v My present invention is an improvement upon that for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 523,222 were granted and issued to me under date of July 17, 1894:; and its object is to provide a rail having, as set forth in said Letters Patent, a surplus body of metal in its head whereby capacity of increased duration of service is attained relatively to rails of the ordinary type and in which said surplus body of metal shall be so formed as to be of minimum weight and to reduce the area of flange-wearing surface, so that a full flan ge-bearing shall not be reached until the surplus metal is practically entirely worn off in service.

To this end my invention, generally stated, consists in a rail having a flange-bearing on one side of its head and having on the oppo site side of its head a surplus body of metal extending a greater distance from the vertical center line of the rail, the outer surface of said surplus body of metal formingaflangebearing having an upper curve connecting it with the top of the rail-head and having sub-- stantially all its remaining portion extending inwardly to its line of intersection with the bottom of the rail-head,

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an end view in elevation of a rail embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 a similar View showing a slightly-modified form.

In the practice of my invention I provide a rail which is rolled in the ordinary manner and which, as in the present standard type, is composed of a head 1, a web or body 2, and bottom flanges 3, extending laterally from the web or body. The railmay be of any desired section, but preferably accords, except as to the added feature of the invention herein set forth, with that of the American Society of Civil Engineers, this being a form which has met with general approval and adoption and the general characteristics of which it is desirable in practice to retain. Wheel-flange bearings 5 6 of the ordinary depth are formed onthe opposite sides of the head 1, each of said flange-bearings connecting by an upper curve of comparatively short radius with the top of the rail-head,- as in the Standard Society and other known sections. As in Letters Patent N'o.'523,222, before referred to, one of the flange-bearings 5, which may be termed the final bearing, is located at the usual distance from the vertical center line of the rail, and the other, 6, which may be termed the initial bearing, is located at a greater distance from said vertical center line. The excess of distance of the initial flange-bearing from the center line above the distance of the final bearing therefrom is, as in Letters Patent No. 523,222, such as presents a surplus body of metal 7, provided to allow forremoval by-flange wear between the initial bearing 6 and an inner boundary (indicated by a dotted line) which is symmetrical as to the center line with the final bearing 5. The width-or thickness of the surplus body of metal 7 is preferably such as would be about equal to that which is usually'worn away from an ordinary rail during the period" for which it is considered as capable of service in the main track of a railroad.

In Letters Patent No. 523,222 aforesaid the initial and final flange-bearings were of similar form,eacl1 being,as in the Society section, a nearly vertical plane surface from its upper curve to its lower side. Such form of the ini tial flange-bearing involves the provision of a larger surplus body of metal than is necessary for the performance of the function desired and,moreover,constantly presents a full flange-bearing surface during the entire period of service of the initial bearing, which entails a corresponding degree of friction. My present invention is particularly designed to avoid these objections,and for this purpose the outer surface of the surplus body of metal 7, which constitutes the initial bearing 6, is

l,continuously inwardly inclined on a tangent to the upper curve; but such specific form of inward extension is not essential, and, as shown in Fig. 2, a portion of the surface of the initial bearing below its upper curve may be plane or tangential to said curve and the remainder inwardly curved. The essential characteristic of the surplus body of metal is that its outer face shall be relieved or cut away inwardly at and for a substantial distance from its lower side or edge.

Under the construction above described the novel and useful function of the surplus body of metal of the rail of Patent No. 523,222 is rendered fully available, and the metal of the head is so disposed as to provide the proper support contemplated in the lines of the Society section with a minimum addition of metal,and a relation to the wheel-flanges such that the full bearing of the flange on the rail is not exerted until the life of the rail with the initial bearing on the gage side is practically terminated.

It will be obvious to the engineer that a rail embodying my present invention possesses substantially all of the advantages of the American Society section, so far as the proper support and general disposition of the metal of the head is concerned, and that the surplus body of metal by which the additional life of the rail is afforded is so shaped as to be of minimum weight and volume, and to present duringa large portion of its duration in service a flange-wearing surface of materially smaller area than heretofore and which is not brought to a full bearing until the termination of its service.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A rail having a surplus body of metal on one side of its head, and a flange-bearing on the surface of said surplus body of metal which is relieved or inwardly extended at and for a substantial distance from its lower edge, substantially as set forth.

2. A rail having a surplus body of metal on one side of its head, and a flange-bearing on the surface of said surplus body of metal, said flange-bearing having an upper curve connecting it with the top of the rail and extending inwardly below said curve to a lower edge which is substantially at the same distance from the center line of the rail as the lower edge of the opposite flange-bearing, substantially as set forth.

3. A rail having a surplus body of metal on one side of its head, and a flange-bearing on the surface of said surplus body of metal, said flange-bearing having an upper curve connecting it with the top of the rail and extend 'ing inwardly below said curve, partly tangential thereto and partly in a curve of longer radius, to the bottom of the head, substantially as set forth.

4:. A rail having a surplus body of metal on one side of its head, provided to allow for flange Wear, said body of metal extending, at and near its top for a greater distance from the vertical center line of the rail than the flange-bearing on the opposite side of the rail, and having its lower portion inwardly reduced or relieved,substantially as set forth.

5. A rail having a web, flanges, and one half of its head, of substantially American Society of Civil Engineers section, and having, on the opposite side of its head, a surplus body of metal, the lower portion of which is inwardly extended to or near the normal side line of said section at the bottom of the head, substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM T. MANNING.

\Vitnesses:

J. SNOWDEN BELL, F. H. B. BULLooK. 

